Last weekend had a nice day to Farmoor and Otmoor on the edge of Oxfordshire with the RSPB Group. Started on a sunny but windy morning at Farmoor this resulted in the bird staying out of the wind which showed as a fair number of the birds were sheltering in with the the sailing boats so we had the sight of 7 Little Grebes all sheltering together with Tufted Ducks and mallards and a nice Little Egret feeding in the mooring area with a few flocks of Starlings overhead.
Further round when the wind had dropped a bit we spotted a few Great Crested Grebes out feeding out on the water where were found a lovely female Goldeneye with them. We then stopped to check the woodland where we came across a nice flock of Fieldfares and Redwings with a a few Blackbirds and a Mistle Thrush feeding in a hedge before a Sparrowhawk flew across before we walked on the causeway where we had a few Pied Wagtails in the boating area.
At Otmoor in the afternoon out on the wetland a nice slection of ducks were out on the water with Teal, Shoveler, Pochard and Wigeons were showing well with the Lapwings and from the hide Linnets, Reed Bunting and Goldfinches were coming down to the seed.
At the reedbeds we had a super view of a Hare before it took one look at us and sprinted away down the path while we waited for the main event of the Startling murmuration at first they came in small groups of ten birds coming from different directions slowly building up into a bigger flock, joining up and seperating. This carried on still the flock appeared to reach somewhere between 20 and 30,000 birds forming different shapes before they roosted in one of the big trees in front of the reedbeds a wonderful end to a super day.
Further round when the wind had dropped a bit we spotted a few Great Crested Grebes out feeding out on the water where were found a lovely female Goldeneye with them. We then stopped to check the woodland where we came across a nice flock of Fieldfares and Redwings with a a few Blackbirds and a Mistle Thrush feeding in a hedge before a Sparrowhawk flew across before we walked on the causeway where we had a few Pied Wagtails in the boating area.
At Otmoor in the afternoon out on the wetland a nice slection of ducks were out on the water with Teal, Shoveler, Pochard and Wigeons were showing well with the Lapwings and from the hide Linnets, Reed Bunting and Goldfinches were coming down to the seed.
At the reedbeds we had a super view of a Hare before it took one look at us and sprinted away down the path while we waited for the main event of the Startling murmuration at first they came in small groups of ten birds coming from different directions slowly building up into a bigger flock, joining up and seperating. This carried on still the flock appeared to reach somewhere between 20 and 30,000 birds forming different shapes before they roosted in one of the big trees in front of the reedbeds a wonderful end to a super day.
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